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Council members call for stricter NYCHA oversight amid lead paint scandal
Speaker candidates want HPD to inspect buildings
Candidates for City Council speaker called for stricter oversight of the New York City Housing Authority in the wake of its lead-paint inspections scandal.
“We need to be sure that HPD also act on inspection and enforcement in NYCHA buildings as we do in the rest of the buildings,” said Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez, calling for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to oversee the city’s public housing stock. “We should not just go after Shola [Olatoye]. The rest of the people — anyone responsible for what happened from the top to the bottom — should pay for the consequences.”
“There were documents submitted to the federal government that were lies,” said Councilmember Jumaane Williams. “The mayor has said that he knew about it. Now if this was a previous administration, the whole city would be going crazy.”
Council member Jimmy van Bramer called for anyone at the agency who lied about the missed inspections to be fired while Mark Levine, Donovan Richards and Corey Johnson supported the installation of an independent monitor.
Two weeks ago the news broke that NYCHA failed to inspect apartments for lead for years but falsely claimed that it did.
In its November issue, The Real Deal examined the agency’s ties to the city’s powerful real estate industry. [NYP] — Konrad Putzier